Book Two Chapter Fourteen: Old Friends

Nick is reunited with some old friends from Earth.

Chapter Fourteen Old Friends: I approached cautiously. It seemed unlikely that marauders would hold down a school, but there was still a chance. With that thought I loaded the five cartridges back into the rifle. I flicked the safety into the fire position, and walked into the school through the front door. As I walked down the hallway, I heard whispers coming from one of the classrooms.

"Who's there?" I called.

I couldn't take any chances, I knew that this apocalypse was my fault, but I had to find Kaleen, whatever the cost. I would shoot anyone who threatened my goal, I was going to fix this no matter the cost. I glared at the door.

"Come out right now or I'm coming in!" I said threateningly.

Just then, I saw three people come out with their hands up. Two boys and one girl.

"Nick?" asked the female's voice.

Confusion cut right through me. How did she know my name? Who was she? She stepped into the light given off by one of the few streetlights left standing. She had blonde hair, brown eyes and a slender form, and I think I recognized her.

"What is your name?" I asked.

"Lisa, your friend, remember?" She asked.

Nostalgia swam within the recesses of my mind. I remembered. From all those years ago, before my life went mad. She was my friendly rival in sports. I also recognized Tim, and Eric. Tim had golden hair, blue eyes and was rather... fat. Eric was also a little on the overweight side, and he looked a lot like Tim. I didn't think that they were related, though. Lisa stared at me.

"Nick, where have you been for the last year!? Ever since the day of the lockdown, when there were those kids on drugs going around, you left, and you didn't come back." Said Lisa.

I’ve only been gone a year? It seemed much longer than that. Maybe the time between worlds wasn’t relative? Sadness came over me. I had left the world to become this. In all fairness, I didn’t exactly leave. Saja had taken me against my will.

"What happened after I left?" I asked, ignoring her question.

Lisa told the story.

"Well, the day that those kids on drugs were at the school, we had the lockdown, like you already know, then we were sent home early, I went to my house like usual, did my homework, watched T.V, had dinner, then went to bed, the next day started out as normal as well, then things went really bad." She began.

"The police were at the school again, and they put the school in lockdown, they said that the drugs used by the kids yesterday had broken out, and now there were more kids on drugs, and they were deadly." Lisa continued on.

Of course, I knew that it wasn’t a drug. There were vampires roaming around. The ‘spread’ of the drug was probably the cover story used by the police to indicate that there was someone turning humans into vampires.

"After a while, nothing happened, then a kid busted through the door, and knocked it down, he pinned the officer to the ground and was going to bite him on the neck, he had fangs and red eyes, I then wondered if the drug was really that powerful. That police officer would have died that day if not for what Mr. Grant did. He broke a leg off of his desk and staked the kid, he freaking staked him! He then explained to us that these were not kids on drugs, and he explained how they were vampires. Since then the outbreak got worse, and about two days ago, these new ones came along. Guns won't kill them, stakes won't kill them, nothing will! We've been holed up at the school ever since." Lisa finished.

Tim and Eric nodded in agreement. I told them my whole story, from the beginning, I went into excruciating detail, especially when I told them about the Kerulen, and how Kaleen was a vampire, about my date with Saja and how she took me, and of how she was a vampire. I told them everything. I even told them about the battle for humanity.

"Woa dude, that is intense, but don't beat yourself up over the apocalypse thing. Saving the world is for the movies." Said Tim.

Wow, he actually took that better than I thought he would have. Eric's eye fell on the rifle I had in my hands.

"Where'd you get the gun...?" Asked Eric, pointing to the hunting rifle.

"A nice man down the road a bit gave it to me, but these bullets won't kill those things out there, only a silver sword will, and the only one I know of is gone, with Saja presumably." I said.

Thinking of how the man was protecting his family gave me a thought.

"Where are your families?” I asked.

A feeling of dread and sadness came over everyone.

"All our families are dead." came the somber reply by Lisa.

"One of those things chased us in here. We lost it, but we've been stuck ever since a few hours ago." Lisa said.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” I said.

I've had enough death to last a lifetime.

“Well, if we want to stay alive, we should probably get out of this school.” Eric suggested.

We walked out of the school. I told them to stay close to me, and most importantly, stay quiet. We were creeping along the sidewalk, when something gleamed in the streetlight. It looked rusty, I picked it up and examined it. This wasn't rust, it was dirt. I scraped it away, and there was a silver bullet! The material looked and felt the same as my sword, so I assumed it was silver. It must have been left behind by someone who knew how to kill Kerulen. I had an idea. I ejected the five cartridges and chambered the silver. It fit! Unbelievable!

"Guys, I found a silver bullet and it fits into the rifle." I whispered.

"Yes!" whispered Tim.

I stuck the five cartridges in my pocket. I then flipped the safety on. I was ready to flip off the safety at any moment. My ears were constantly scanning the air, straining to hear the faintest trace of noise made by a possible killer. It was Tim that broke the silence.

"So Nick, what exactly are these Kerulen?" He whispered.

"They are an elite vampire species created by Saja, the only way to kill them is by using a silver sword, or pierce them with anything silver. That’s where this thing’s going to come in handy." I replied, referring to the silver bullet I found on the ground.

Just then we heard footsteps. There were a lot of people, or Kerulen coming around the bend. We all dove into the bushes, away from the light.

"You check those houses, and you check the apartment block, And you three, go check that school down there." whispered a middle aged man.

"If we are to survive this, we need supplies." He whispered harshly.

"Looters." Whispered Eric in disgust.

"They relentlessly fight off the Kerulen, looking for supplies, but they are not very friendly, before my parents and I got separated by those things, a bunch of them raided our house. My dad had to shoot a few, but they burned our house down. We barely escaped." He explained.

"Wait. Are you saying these guys have weapons? Silver weapons?" I asked.

"Well yeah, but it's not like we can ask them and get them to give us their precious weapons.” Eric said.

“I’m not saying we ask them." I said.

"What? Are you saying we steal them?" asked Lisa.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." I replied.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think!